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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: db286074 <db286074@gmail.com>
Reply-To: burtondennis9@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 07:21:45 +0100
Subject: Re : Please let me know

My name is Mr. Dennis Burton in charge of Credit and Foreign bills of a
bank here in the United Kingdom. I am writing in respect of a foreign
customer of my bank with account number 14-255-114 who happens to have the
same surname with you. Who died in a plane crash.

Since the demise of this our customer, I personally has watched with keen
interest to see the next of kin but all has proved abortive as no one has
come to lay claim to his funds of US$ 7.5 M (SEVEN Million Five Hundred
Thousand United States Dollars) which has been with my branch for a very
long time. On this note, I decided to seek for consent since you bear the
same surname to be used as the Next of Kin as no one has come up to be the
next of kin. And the banking ethics here does not allow such money to stay
more than eight years, because money will be recalled to the bank treasury
as unclaimed after this period. In view of this I got your contact through
a trade journal I will give you 30% of the total. Upon the receipt of your
response,

I will send you by fax or e-mail the application, bank's fax number and the
next step to take. I will not fail to bring to your notice that this
business is hitch free and that you should not entertain any fear as all
modalities for fund transfer can be finalized within five banking days,
after you apply to the bank as a relation to the deceased.

When you receive this letter. Kindly send me an e-mail signifying your
decision, including your contact address,private Tel/Fax numbers for quick
communication.

Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Dennis Burton

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